1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an in-vehicle promotions system, and in particular to an in-vehicle promotions system for displaying advertising, including discount coupon information, and the optional printing of the displayed advertising or coupons.
2. Discussion of the Background
Many manufacturers and business establishments distribute discount coupons or advertisements offering discounted or sale prices on items through merchandising such as direct mailing of advertising brochures or catalogs, printing advertisements or coupons in newspapers and magazines or, recently, through the Internet. A customer will collect the coupon and present it at the time of purchase to receive a discount, or will bring the advertisement offering the discounted prices. The retail store will redeem the coupon, which is typically bar coded for reading by an optical scanner, or the computer system of the store will already be programmed with the discounted item price.
These methods of marketing to the consumer have a disadvantage that the customer may not in fact know of the coupon or of the item being offered at a discounted price. Unless the customer is inclined to patronize a business establishment or had a reason to visit the business establishment, the marketing is ineffective. The marketing is ineffective from another standpoint, as a common goal in a marketing campaign is to increase the number of customers who buy a particular product or to add new customers. The people who are inclined to visit the business establishment are not new customers. Also, a customer who collects such coupons may belong to a narrow group and also may not be new customers.
With the advent of electronic and digital communication, new ways are being explored to reach existing and potential customers. Such ways often try to employ intelligent systems which automatically perform such tasks as searching for information and then supplying it to a user or potential customer so that he or she can browse the information at his or her leisure. An example of such a system is the personalized Internet newspapers which automatically search for articles based upon a profile prepared by the subscriber. The Internet newspaper then at some interval, usually daily, prepares a personalized newspaper accessible at the subscriber's leisure.
Another concern of a marketing campaign is to reach people at times when their work or personal obligations do not otherwise command their attention. Such approaches are exemplified by television monitors in airport waiting areas, monitors in commuter train cars, etc. What is needed is a system which can provide information in the way of advertising, coupons, etc. at a time which is convenient for a person in an intelligent manner.